USED Kia Picanto Hatchback (04 - 11)

My car

I have just bought a year old Kia Picanto LX, and absolutely love it!

To drive - I do a mixture of town and motorway driving, and have found this car performs well in both. Even though it is only a 1.1 it is not slow to pull away and easily gets up to 80mph on the motorway without even noticing (which is obviously when I slowed back down to 70mph!!). Very easy to manoeuvre around little streets and great for parking, electric mirrors can be adjusted easily to prevent wheels scraping on the curb. Also the brakes are very good.

Economy - Cheap to insure, cheap to tax, fill the tank with £25 and seems to last ages, although haven't done an actual measurement of mpg.

Spec - Love the cd/mp3 player, love all the electrics and air con, being able to control back windows is a plus! Also love the sunglasses holder above my door! Also I really like the grill on the front, I think it adds character.

Practicality - The boot is small, but there is a hidden compartment underneath. Also the seats are very easy to fold flat if extra space is required. Easily fit my weeks food shop. There is good leg room, my husband is 6ft5 and easily fits in passenger seat with the seat fully back, and this still leaves room in back seats for people of average height to sit comfortably.

Overall - I would definitely recommend this car to anyone who likes all the extras, but only has a small budget and wants to have a cheap economic little car that is a pleasure to drive.

My car

I bought this car in April of this year and must say that the "value for money" that the model was advertised upon is shaky to say the least.

The brochure stated that the car should do at least 400 miles to the tank, and yet I am only getting 260 average. I have requested that this be sorted out by Kia, and I am told that their diagnostic tests show that the car is performing at 60 mpg, when in fact it does around 36. I was then told that performance would increase after 5000 miles (a good lie to keep customers off one's back), which it obviously hasn't. As it stands, I am paying an extra 4.3 pence per mile than I should be, which is an extra 11 pounds to achieve 400 miles. Then I am lied to!

There are other cars, in the same market, which may be able to achieve 400 miles to the tank, and which have the same comfort level. Unfortunately, the customer service at Kia are appalling, which puts me off from buying another of their machines.

NICE CAR, SHAME ABOUT KIA (and the petrol consumption)

My car

Although compact, I found the cabin was comfortable for a six-footer, but the plastics were poorly styled, although they feel well built.

I liked the cabin as a whole though - it felt relaxing. The equipment level is good for the price, but I'd prefer to see some more safety equipment.

The dealer's salesman didn't really take interest in you until you said 'I'd like a test drive'. The drive is dull and boring; nothing exciting at all.

The running costs look great on paper, but I don't know if it's good off it.

My car

I bought this car after having had a test drive in one and rejecting it, because we were running two 4x4s, one a Sorento XS, replaced this year by another XS.

I ordered the car for March 1 2005 delivey and got a lot of grief with late delivery - I got free mudflaps and car mats and a pair of Kia mugs. Read into this what you will.

To date, the car has been reliable but I do have concerns with the fuel consumption. I have done just over 4000 miles in the last year, and normally I seem to be getting fuel economy in the high 40s, but nowhere near the figures quoted by Kia. i'm not heavy-footed and would expect more.

I had the car's first year service recently at a cost of £135 - not bad, but the car smelled of oil.

The car has a good list of standard equipment. The SE has electric windows all round but no heating elements in the door mirrors - my old Montego had those in 1990. It has room for four people, is cheap to insure and seems to have no wear or tear anywhere.

On the negative side, I was waiting for the diesel version - it seems to have sunk crossing the Channel - only for its 75bhp and twice the torque of petrol models. The car is adequate round town but gives a false impression of speed, because it is small and close to the ground. This makes it seem fast, but the speedometer only reads 50mph.